A subcommittee of the Kansas state board of education last week approved draft science standards that take a more critical view of the theory of evolution than is now presented in those standards.
The 108-page draft is scheduled to be presented to the full, 10-member board on June 15, said Kathy Toelkes, a spokeswoman for the state department of education. It is not likely that final state science standards will be approved until later this summer—perhaps in August, after being externally reviewed, she added.
Last month, the three members of the board subcommittee staged courtroom-style public hearing on potential revisions to the state science standards. Those hearings were boycotted by top scientific organizations, which argued that it was improper to consider concepts such as intelligent design, which critics view as religious belief, in the same forum as evolution, which they emphasize is a well-established scientific theory. (“Kansas Hears From Critics of Evolution,” May 11, 2005.)
